EPA announces funding of €6.6million for targeted new research projects to address environmental, climate and sustainability challenges.
The EPA today announces funding of €6.6million for new research that will address environmental, climate and sustainability challenges in Ireland.
Funding will support targeted research projects that address specific needs from across the policy community, with a focus on shorter projects to provide timely outputs.
Proposals are invited under 29 individual topics, including how we can enhance the reuse of water in Ireland, assessing methane emissions and exploring the impact of global megatrends on achieving environmental objectives.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced research funding of up to €6.6 million for new environmental research. The EPA is inviting proposals from the research community for innovative projects under 29 topics that will contribute to the development and implementation of environmental policies in Ireland.
Announcing the EPA funding call, Dr Eimear Cotter, (Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment) said: “The EPA’s continued investment in research underscores its critical role in addressing knowledge gaps and supporting effective policy responses to the challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation. In 2024, we were delighted to see an 80 per cent increase in applications to the EPA research call, highlighting the significant opportunity that researchers see for their work to contribute to environmental and climate policy development, and we hope to see a similarly strong response to our 2025 call.”
Research topics to be funded include:
assessing the performance of policies on achieving our climate targets;
examining how Ireland’s infrastructure can be resilient to population growth and climate change in the future;
exploring the impact of global megatrends such as artificial intelligence on environmental objectives;
how we can enhance the reuse of water in Ireland, and
analysing methane emissions from natural sources and human activities in Ireland.
Dr Darragh O’Neill, (EPA Research Manager”), stated, “The EPA is inviting proposals across 29 topics to address specific knowledge gaps. To strengthen the connection between research and policy, the EPA will support the successful research teams in working closely with the policy community to deliver impactful research outcomes. We particularly encourage early career researchers to apply and to consider the relevance of their research to the environment, climate and sustainability.”
The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative, funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Applications are accepted from across the island of Ireland, including from higher education institutions, research performing organisations, private companies and non-governmental organisations. Under this year’s call, the EPA is delighted to be partnering with Met Éireann, the Office of Public Works and the National Parks and Wildlife Service to co-fund projects in areas of mutual interest.
Further details about the 2025 EPA Research Call and how to apply for funding is available on the EPA Website.
Thurles Municipal District Enhancement and Painting Grant 2025.
Thurles Municipal District Council, is seeking to improve the streetscape and public realm of Thurles Town, Templemore Town and Roscrea Town, through supporting owners of buildings in improving and enhancing their properties and public areas generally, by such means as, but not limited to:-
Removal of inappropriate contemporary signage, fittings, and general clutter and replacement with shop fascia signage (with an emphasis on hand-painted signage).
Painting and general improvements to the frontages of commercial and residential buildings.
Erection of planters, floral hanging baskets, or other environmental improvements.
A partial eclipse of the sun will see skies darken over Ireland tomorrow morning, Saturday March 28th, allowing us to experience the deepest eclipse experienced in the past ten years.
This phenomenon occurs when the Moon partially passes between the Sun and the Earth. Since the three planets will not be completely aligned, only part of the Sun will be obscured from our world.
The Aztecs, a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexicoin the post-classic period believed eclipses happened when the jaguar god Tepeyollotl swallowed the Sun, while the Cherokee, latter anIndigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, made as much noise as possible during an eclipse, to scare away the giant frog, they believed, was trying to consume it.
This happening, however, will see sunlight less powerful around mid-morning on Saturday, as the begins to cut a slice from the sun from 9:30am onwards until it reaches its peak at around 11:00am to noon.
The impact of this partial eclipse will be noticeable, particularly by people working outdoors. With bright, sunny spells expected in the east of the country tomorrow morning, the sky will otherwise remain cloudy with outbreaks of light rain and drizzle expected.
A jury in Georgia, South Carolina, USA, has ordered the Monsanto parent company Bayer to pay nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who maintains the company’s Roundup weed killer caused his cancer, according to his attorneys.
This verdict, delivered on Friday last, marks the latest in a long-running series of court battles that Monsanto has faced over its Roundup herbicide. The agrochemical giant says it will appeal the verdict, in an efforts to overturn the court’s decision.
In a statement, law firms Arnold & Itkin LLP and Kline & Specter PC said that the penalties awarded to the plaintiff will include $65 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages. This marks one of the largest legal settlements reached in a Roundup weed killer related case to date.
The plaintiff named as Mr John Barnes filed his lawsuit against Monsanto in 2021, seeking damages which related to his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The lead trial lawyer, Arnold & Itkin attorney Kyle Findley, stated that the verdict will help to place his client in a better disposition in order to obtain necessary treatment needed going forward.
The verdict on the case is seen as an important moment of truth, following the refusal by Monsanto to accept responsibility for poisoning people with their product, same regarded as highly toxic.
Glyphosate is a herbicide used to kill certain plants and grasses and is the declared active ingredient in most versions of Roundup. The biggest users of glyphosate are growers of crops that have been genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide. This allows the plant to survive while killing nearby weeds. The crops with the highest use of glyphosate are modified corn, cotton, and soybeans.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. maintain that glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer in humans. But there is concern about the other ingredients in Roundup, as they may be more toxic than glyphosate. These other chemicals are not the active ingredients in Roundup, so they are rarely the focus of regulatory health risk assessments. One study found that Roundup was among the most toxic of the herbicides and insecticides tested.
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” – Greek Proverb.
It was great to see, once again, biodiversity being restored to the area of the Thurles Double Ditch, latter situated beside Dun Muileann Housing Estate, on Mill Road, in Thurles yesterday and sponsored by Allied Irish Banks(AIB).
Tree planters pictured above are students from Thurles Ursuline Convent Secondary School with Ms Anne Marie Fleming,(Tipperary County Council Biodiversity Officer)and Mr John Lanigan(Refresh Thurles).
Tree planters pictured above are students from Thurles Presentation Convent Secondary School with MrRichard Mulcahy (Co-founder of the 100MT Project initiative)
So, how important was yesterday’s Thurles undertaking?
The two videos, shown immediately hereunder, should assist, greatly, in granting an understanding into the importance of yesterday’s Thurles project.
So what can we expect to see here in just 2 years from now?
Congratulations to all those responsible for yesterday’s undertaking, which, sadly, saw no elected politicians making themselves available to turn sods; however, in mitigation I suppose it wasn’t an election year and the trees were too small to allow the holding up of election posters, using tech screws.
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